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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs it possible that Bowe Bergdahl is mentally ill?
His fellow troops thought he was a little "weird". He would say crazy stuff.
Is his behavior that of a "normal" soldier?
One soldier that was in his platoon said that one time he pointed toward a mountain and asked if China was on the other side? As if he might go exploring?
It's certainly not the way your average soldier would behave.
So far, no one has broached the subject of mental instability but is it something that should be considered?
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)by the others in his platoon. He was "different".
monmouth3
(3,871 posts)my first impression he was bullied
kentuck
(110,950 posts)He studied Buddhism and ballet as a teenager.
So, maybe sitting in the plywood and sandbag bunker, 10-15 miles from anyone in the middle of nowhere, he might be seen as a little "different"? He may have been "bullied" to the point that he simply walked off?
if they called him names and harassed him. I have no idea if he walked off, or if he went to the latrine, or if he just wanted a little peace and quite for an hour or so. I guess we will find out eventually.
Wounded Bear
(58,440 posts)For me, the thing is to get him back, hold an investigation and probably a psych eval and make a reasoned decision on how to move forward.
It's the whole convicting him in the press thing that pisses me off.
riverwalker
(8,694 posts)and the "Bullies Gone Wild" pile on in the media is absolutely disgusting.
Even Charles Graner, the Abu Ghraib torture sadist freak got more respect in the press than this kid. Sgt Robert Bales who shot up the 16 villagers was not even reviled as much as this disturbed kid who just wandered off base and was captured.
bluesbassman
(19,310 posts)The glaring transparency of the "outrage" from the RW and their sympathizers is disgusting.
deutsey
(20,166 posts)he was raised by a family and in an area that don't sound "conventional."
I don't mean that as a put-down (I wasn't raised in a conventional situation, either).
That puts you outside the shared experience of a lot of people who have a more mainstream background.
Like, for instance, in his case: He apparently wanted to go to Afghanistan to help provide humanitarian aid to Afghans. While noble, I think that's a very naive aspiration that's probably rooted in what sounds like a very alternative worldview he learned at home.
But I have no clue at this point.
I'm only speculating based on what very little I've learned about him and his family on Democracy Now! this week.
If you haven't seen these reports, they're an excellent counterbalance to the media circus polluting the airwaves on corporate TV.
medeak
(8,101 posts)It's a tiny enclave that is thankfully different from the rest of red neck right wing Idaho
Response to kentuck (Original post)
OKNancy This message was self-deleted by its author.
Shrike47
(6,913 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)DonViejo
(60,536 posts)The controversy over Bergdahls disappearance has been in the public domain since at least 2012, when Rolling Stone ran a lengthy profile of Bergdahl, complete with reports by his fellow soldiers alleging he walked off base of his own accord on the morning of June 30, 2009.
By all accounts, Bergdahl was a troubled young man, with naive and very unrealistic views on his service in Afghanistan. He thought he was joining the Peace Corps with guns, going over to help Afghans. What he found instead was an ugly, brutal war.
Rolling Stone quoted emails he sent to his parents:
"We don't even care when we hear each other talk about running their children down in the dirt streets with our armored trucks We make fun of them in front of their faces, and laugh at them for not understanding we are insulting them."
Bergdahl called the US Army the biggest joke the world has to laugh at the army of liars, backstabbers, fools and bullies. He said he was ashamed to be an American.
Disappointment in Americas flawed efforts in Afghanistan is not a sign of mental illness. But, as journalist Matthieu Aikins, who reports regularly from Afghanistan, tweeted:
Matthieu Aikins @mattaikins
Does running unarmed into Taliban terrain seem sane to you? Maybe Bergdahl's act should be seen through PTSD/mental health prism.
9:59 AM - 2 Jun 2014
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/140603/bowe-bergdahl-guantanamo-prisoner-swap
kentuck
(110,950 posts)that there is probably a lot we do not know about this young man and the pressures he may have been under?
kentuck
(110,950 posts)<snip>
WASHINGTON A classified military report detailing the Armys investigation into the disappearance of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in June 2009 says that he had wandered away from assigned areas before both at a training range in California and at his remote outpost in Afghanistan and then returned, according to people briefed on it.
The roughly 35-page report, completed two months after Sergeant Bergdahl left his unit, concludes that he most likely walked away of his own free will from his outpost in the darkness of night, and it criticized lax security practices and poor discipline within his unit. But it stops short of concluding that there is solid evidence that Sergeant Bergdahl intended to permanently desert.
Whether Sergeant Bergdahl was a deserter who never intended to come back, or simply slipped away for a short adventure amid an environment of lax security and discipline and then was captured, is one of many unanswered questions about his disappearance.
gwheezie
(3,580 posts)but I do think after 5 years of being a pow, he may be mentally ill now, it could range from an adjustment disorder to psychosis.
I don't think walking away from base proves mental illness, nor does being unconventional. When my husband was in Korea he went awol more than once, he had a girlfriend and an off base little shack, he was caught once and got an article 15 and was threatened with stronger charges if he did it again, and he did it again but didn't get caught. He also was vegan and loved to sing show tunes. Also he was a co so they made him a medic. However he never thought he was there to help anyone and he pretty much hated the entire experience from day one.
fredamae
(4,458 posts)and with the available facts--I'd say "we" are mentally ill--but only because too many are buying MSM hype/opinion and direction of What we think and feel about this whole thing, imo
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Or, better yet, have a television network construct an analysis of your life, entirely without your input.
Yes, there will be all sorts of "unexplained" things you did.
Whisp
(24,096 posts)Any one of us could be deemed 'mentally ill' if we were ripped apart under a microscope by the media.
Just because someone may be a bit different doesn't make them crazy. What makes the world crazy is too many people think the same old stupid ways of the past.
Little Star
(17,055 posts)Bowe grew up near Hailey, Idaho, the son of California expats and ski bums Jani and Bob Bergdahl, who lived "nearly off the grid" on 40 acres, home-schooling Bowe and his sister Sky in a demanding curriculum:
Devout Calvinists, they taught the children for six hours a day, instructing them in religious thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. "Ethics and morality would be constant verbiage in our conversations," his father recalls. "Bowe was definitely instilled with truth. He was very philosophical about perceiving ethics."
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/13-things-you-need-to-know-about-bowe-bergdahl-20140602
It doesn't sound like he had much interaction with the outside world. Maybe that's why he seems a little weird.